After Opposing Stimulus, Lindsey Graham Will Take The Money

Oh, Lindsey Graham, he is one of our favorites! The South Carolina Senator has, for weeks, cast himself as one of the stimulus package's most fervent opponents. This time last week, he and John McCain were in the well of the Senate, performing a grand duetto buffo di due gatti against the stimulus, and when the media metanarrative required that someone take a ream of paper and wave it around in the air with dramatic flair, Graham was only too happy to accommodate.

Ah, but now the bill's passage draws nigh, and lest you think he was going to school us all by allowing South Carolina to become a laboratory for whatever the hell economic plan he thought would work better, guess again. Graham will take the dollars, thank you, even if he's not convinced it will be of any good! Or so he told Wolf Blitzer:

BLITZER: South Carolina will get money out of this bill.

GRAHAM: Yes.

BLITZER: Should South Carolina take the money?

GRAHAM: I think that, yes, from my point of view, I -- you don't want to be crazy here. I mean, if there's going to be money on the table that will help my state, but I've got a job to do up here, and that is to try to help people and not damn the next generation. We had a $415 billion package to help people who have lost their jobs, that cut taxes, that create new jobs. We've got a spending bill, not a job creation bill. And we're being all things to all people.

Shucks, Lindsey, if you don't think it'll do South Carolina any good, by all means, don't take it!

Comments

[OhioObamaVoter]

GRAHAM: I think that, yes, from my point of view, I -- you don't want to be crazy here. I mean, if there's going to be money on the table that will help my state, but I've got a job to do up here, and that is to try to help people

He's talking out of both ends.

[grata2ude]

This guy needs to be taken out in a back alley and have some sense slapped upside his head.

[MadJeffersonian]

Hey, JERK..."not damn the next generation" was done under your party by your idiot president. But, part of that next generation spilled their blood in the sands of Iraq for your party's glory!

Sanctimonious knucklehead!

[LiberalDemIda]

So Lindsey will now be waving a white flag instead of the bill on the Senate floor? Perhaps Governor Sanford of South Carolina will refuse the jobs stimulus? The inept South Carolina State legislature maybe? They have 45 days from the day the jobs plan passes, thanks to Democratic Representative Clyburn who put that caveat in.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0209/Congress_to_governors_Use_it_or_lose_it.html

Think one of South Carolina's most vocal anti-Democratic jobs bill, Gov. Sanford, will refuse the dough? HAH! Not gonna happen. With tail between the legs, their greedy fingers will be reaching for it before it leaves Congress.

[lwaxanatroi]

Quel surprise. Say, do you think we can take a re-vote? Make it very, very clear to all senators and congressional reps that a no vote=no bailout for you (insert Soup Nazi impression)? Boy, the scramble to cast a yes vote would really rock the House! And this, of course, is the key to GOP opposition to the stimulus: it's free. It costs them nothing. The money will roll in anyway because how can we deprive the citizens of these red states just because they're represented by dunderheads? How indeed? Nancy, Harry, Rahm: work on it. Please. The howls that would come from the govminit-hating Right would be music to the ears. All of a sudden, pork would become prime rib and the red staters would be publicly shown to be as eager to grab theirs as any Dem ward heeler. Exposing hypocrisy is always a worthy goal.

[TovSquirrel]

Not crazy, just mendacious.

[motoGpifupleez]

Man Up Senator Graham! Stand tall and say "Thanks, but no thanks" to that Stimulus money.
Your constituents will understand. They know you are just following the courage of your convictions.
What's that? You say you have no courage of conviction? Oh, that's right, you're a Republican.

[keepemhonest]

I challenge the GOP who voted "NO" on the stimulus bill to: Donate ALL the money from the stimulus bill that would go to their state to pay off the National Debt.

Wasn't that their excuse for NOT voting for it?

[DotMatrix]

I challenge all GOP politicians who fought so hard against the stimulus: Put your money where your mouth is and decline any stimulus funding. Then we'll see how dedicated you truly are to your Republican values.

[bronceye]

Linseed Graham answers the question-"who replaced Jeff Gannon?"

[dax49]

after eight years of being the water carrier for the bush administration , he goes on fox and acts so concerned about the taxpayers. where was his outrage and hos appearances on fox when bush mn and paulson were throwing unregulated money at wall street?

[DrBillo1]

this McCain lover is a bottom feeding hypocrite-the Dem's should eliminate those states who's senators fought and voted against it-since they don't want tainted money---

[Genep34]

PHONEY

[JScott]

Interesing, suddenly the GOP has all this concern for the 'next generation', where were they 8 years ago?

[polaris12]

Yes. If they wanted to help the next generation, then they could stop funding the 1 trillion dollar war and occupation of Iraq and bring our troops home so they could father the next generation, rather than being killed off in a useless war. But Republican hypocrisy knows no bounds.

[Topsailsman]

South Carolina already gets $1.35 from the Federal Government for every $1.00 they pay. I guess wealth redistribution and living on welfare is ok for South Carolina.